Silly Superstitions: Dragon
by MythplacedLogic
Summary: The Monkey family members are not subtle, even the secret agent ones. AKA: The Great Revolutionary Army and the Mystery of the Incredibly Persistently Appearing Leaves. Baltigo will never know what hit it. Secret agents, lucky charms, inappropriate use of explosives, and more East Blue superstitions ahead! Second story in the Silly Superstitions 'verse.


Summary: This is the next installment in my Silly Superstitions 'verse.

The Monkey family members are not subtle, even the secret agent ones. AKA: The Great Revolutionary Army and the Mystery of the Incredibly Persistently Appearing Leaves. Baltigo will never know what hit it. Secret agents, lucky charms, inappropriate use of explosives, and more East Blue superstitions ahead!

############

It began, as it always did, with small leaves in the packs of the scout teams, tucked away in pockets and tiny cloth bags.

At first, back when little had been known of their taciturn leader, the scouts of the Revolutionary Army had shrugged off the leaves they found in their packs without fail. The quartermaster's new helpers must have been lax when cleaning the packs for the next deployment. They simply tossed the leaves overboard and moved on, as there were far more important things to be doing.

The leaves didn't stay away.

Each new mission, the leaves would turn up again. Each time, they would be harder and harder to simply dismiss. Some agents tuned it out, those singleminded in their fervor to complete the next task, much too busy to bother with shredded leaves in their supplies. There were far worse things to encounter in their travels, after all.

The more suspicious of their number would squint at them, trying to discern their meaning.

Is it poison? Some kind of scent-based tracking system? The Revolutionaries had many enemies, many traps to avoid in the course of their duties. These were the agents who turned their intellects to hunting down the culprit.

At first, it was thought to be enough that they found all the leaves and burned them. It turned out to be a far more pervasive problem than they could have ever thought. Indeed each pack, no matter how hastily assembled for an emergency trip to a struggling island in whatever far sea, always had the leaves inside.

As word began to spread and the agents spoke amongst themselves, more and more they tried to leave them behind. Nothing worked. There must be a traitor among them, they whispered, side-eying their brethren. And so the task became how best to destroy this invading greenery, whilst also trying to discern its purpose and track down the perpetrator. There was no need to involve the higher-ups, who were far too busy to be bothered with something like this. It would take no time at all!

If they had stopped for even a moment to mention any of these thoughts to their Chief of Staff, or indeed any of his fellow Officers, perhaps it all could have been avoided.

Alas, Revolutionary Army agents are not chosen for their honesty and direct mannerisms. And so the silent war began.

Those agents elected to take charge of the investigation searched among their number for one who could give them more information. Each botanist or survivalist they found could tell them nothing other than that it appeared to be a relatively uncommon, but by no means sinister or poisonous, 4-leafed offshoot of a common Triffolium. No medical or agricultural uses could be determined.

Whist this investigation went on, other agents were tasked with single-minded destruction. They approached the quartermaster, who did not know where the leaves had originated. As no one in his department had any answers to give,(and with the investigation into the loyalty of the quartermaster underway), the word passed to destroy each plant found as soon as possible so as not to jeopardize the mission.

It was not so simple a task.

The leaves became harder to find, tucked in hidden places in their gear, rolled into fibers in ropes, flattened between the pages of maps, it was maddening!

Some especially determined agents instead found their leaves laminated in a clear hard substance, soldered to the chains of weapons or to pulltabs of favored packs. The leaves seemed to mock them in their smug ability to appear without fail.

It was one such agent that the Chief of Staff stumbled upon as he made his way to a progress meeting.

Sabo raised an eyebrow at what appeared to be one of his best infiltrators, in the middle of the hallway, attempting to place an explosive charge on top of their own backpack.

"Oscar, as much as I admire your enthusiasm when it comes to explosives, our own hallways are really not the location I prefer to see them used on."

The so-named Oscar leapt to his feet even as the charge beeped and Sabo sprang forward to grab him and throw them both to the ground as the explosive charge did its work and erupted into flames with a loud bang.

Sabo had jumped up to examine the now smoldering remains when Oscar pushed past him to begin picking at the pile with a dagger held at the ready and gasped, stabbing at the stone floor in frustration.

For there, without a scratch, lay the leaf in its clear casing. He growled in frustration before he scrambled to hide it from his superior officer, who looked curiously over his shoulder.

Oscar was no match for Sabo's speed and a hand shot out to pick up the surprisingly cool rectangle and pull it up to an inquiring eye.

"That's an ingenious way to protect your 4-leaf clover, Oscar!" Sabo exclaimed as he turned over the prism with its leafy inhabitant inside.

Oscar stared at him in mute /"Protect it...?".

Sabo slapped him on the back, "Amazing! I had no idea you were experimenting with armored materials!'" He put his arm around Oscar's shoulders and pulled him forward with enthusiasm, "You know you really shouldn't be doing this in a hallway, we have labs for this kind of thing. It's ok to be a little nervous about a new discovery, but Dragon always says that innovation is one of the keys to victory. We'll get you set up and then we can start getting everyone's clover charms protected like this. Genius!"

Oscar watched his commanding officer continue to speak as a sense of foreboding came over him. He prepared himself for the worst and wheezed out, "Sir...?".

"What is it?" Sabo turned his intense gaze towards his subordinate.

"S-Sir, do you know where that leaf came from?"

Sabo looked to the object still clasped in his hand. "Of course!" He continued to speak as they walked into the room that had been Sabo's destination all along. Oscar choked as he saw the highest Officers of the Revolution sitting together at a round table, ready to plan their next move.

Sabo walked right up to them and placed the clover on the desk. "Hey guys, look at what Oscar's been up to! He managed to encase his 4-leaf clover to protect it from explosives. I personally witnessed him testing it. He could really use some remedial lab-safety lessons, but all in all a good result."

Hack picked up the prism, "Sabo, I think you may be mistaken, I've seen this substance before in the labs, it is not of Oscar's design. Although its current use is quite ingenious. Dragon will be happy to see his gifts are being protected so fiercely."

Oscar could feel his skin going grey as the life seemed to go out of his eyes, "D-Dragon's gift!?".

Koala chose that moment to speak up, an amused look on her face as she turned to Oscar. "Yes, these lucky charms he gives out to everyone who leaves the island. I know everyone's been a good sport about it, he and our Chief of Staff here are from East Blue, you see. Superstitious, every one of them, if you can believe it."

Sabo immediately turned to Koala and began to lecture her on the very serious matter of lucky charms. The glint in her eye as she glanced at Oscar told him that she knew the truth about what he had been doing.

Oscar took that moment to slink out of the room and immediately took off at a run to inform the rest of the investigative team, his mind roiling with this new information. They should have known better than to believe they could hide it from the Officers' attention, they were too good! And thank Heaven Dragon hadn't actually confronted them for ruining his gifts, how embarrassing! They had to fix this!

As Sabo continued to pass on his important luck-related knowledge to his long-suffering staff, the agents of the Revolutionary Army sheepishly spread the word about the strange leaves that meant so much to their leader. They really should have know that only Dragon could have outsmarted them all like that.

In a dramatic turn-around, the leaves were reverently tucked away into bags and pockets, encased in their new protective coating. Agents continued their journeys to oppressed populations around the world, a new spring in their steps at the thought of their leader's care for them, even if it did come in the form of a strange obsession with a silly superstition.

And Dragon? He stood at his window, looking ever towards his former home in East Blue and the precious legacy it held, and smiled.

#####################################

Crack treated seriously! I know that Dragon's motivations are many, but I firmly believe that becoming a parent changes you. He is still the leader of the Revolution of course, but I think that wanting to make a better world for his own son is bound up in that motivation. This story is set just as Luffy is setting out on his journey. Dragon has mostly suppressed the superstitions of his birthplace for the years he has been leading the Revolution, but he knows more about how the world is changing at this point in history than most and I think he can't help but hope a little luck will help everyone.

Please leave a comment on your way out, love to hear from you guys!


End file.
